What will council's sea change mean for the Delta?

STOCKTON - Just before the election, the Stockton City Council endured a two-hour presentation on a damnably complex subject: the Delta.

Alex Breitler

STOCKTON - Just before the election, the Stockton City Council endured a two-hour presentation on a damnably complex subject: the Delta.

Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to build twin tunnels and siphon off Delta water had reached a "critical juncture," council members were told; they needed a crash course right away.

A week later, three council members, including Mayor Ann Johnston, were voted out of office. A fourth, Susan Eggman, will move on to the state Assembly.

Most of the council members who had in-depth knowledge of the Delta - the acronyms, the power players, the bureaucracy - will soon be gone.

What then?

"Believe me, I'm a little nervous about it," said Vice Mayor Kathy Miller, the lone remaining council member with in-depth involvement in the Delta. "The lack of institutional knowledge now in certain areas on the council - it's not that I think it's insurmountable, but it is an area of concern."

The city had been mostly silent on the subject of the Delta before Johnston elevated it to a major priority the past year.

At first, her concern was not so much with the proposed tunnels, but with other elements of the plan that officials worried would hinder Stockton's future growth.

Johnston launched a coalition that brought diverse local players to the table - developers, environmentalists, government officials.

And as their discussions went on, her concerns broadened.

When the governor announced his plan to build the $14 billion tunnels, the mayor became one of his loudest critics. Standing on the steps of the state Capitol in July, she called Brown a "dictator."

Later that summer, she told a crowd of Delta advocates that, in the long run, Stockton's bankruptcy would be "small potatoes" compared with the fight for the Delta.

The question now, in a bankrupt city with horrendous violent crime, is whether the Delta will remain a high priority. This is a crucial time; in two weeks state officials will release a broad plan that will determine the fate of the estuary for the next 100 years, and a draft plan for the tunnels is expected in the coming months.

"We have really just started this war and it's essential that this coalition stay together," Johnston said Friday. "There is potential for the decimation of our local economy and our growth and our development over the next century if we don't pay attention and if we let the steamroller of the state government and the federal government just roll over us."

Someone will have to "pick up the mantle" and move forward, she said, adding that she doesn't expect that to be a problem once meetings are held with city staff and Mayor-elect Anthony Silva.

Silva could not be reached Friday regarding his plans with the water issue. But for any elected official, diving into the Delta is an endeavor likely to take months or years.

"It's probably one of the most complicated issues a political leader will have to get up to speed on," said Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, a coalition member and director of the anti-tunnel advocacy group Restore the Delta.

"I think (Johnston) has built a core group that can continue to move forward," Barrigan-Parrilla said. "That core group will have to welcome new elected officials so we can all move forward together."

Water will also be an issue faced by state and federal representatives:

» State: Eggman, a member of the Delta Protection Commission who is well-versed in water issues, will represent San Joaquin County in the state Assembly. Her district includes a large portion of the Delta.

Her influence on water issues remains to be seen. Delta legislators have struggled in the face of opposition from Southern California lawmakers; legislation by Assemblyman Bill Berryhill, R-Ceres, requiring a full cost-benefit analysis before the tunnels are built failed to advance out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee. And that was one of the more successful efforts.

Eggman said part of her job will be education and outreach.

"There are just so many members from south of the Tehachapis that oftentimes our voices get lost," she said. "But people, I think, don't vote on things maliciously. They vote on things without the benefit of a contextual understanding of the Delta and its importance to the state."

The state Senate race between Berryhill and Cathleen Galgiani, D-Stockton, has yet to be decided. Both say they oppose the tunnels; Galgiani did vote, however, with south Valley interests in 2009 in approving an $11 billion water bond that would help pay for habitat restoration associated with water diversion. Galgiani said at the time that a peripheral canal (now tunnel) should be "the very last option."

» Federal: U.S. Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Stockton, who will represent San Joaquin County and much of the Delta, said he opposes the tunnels. He has intensified his rhetoric the past two years.

U.S. Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Turlock, who will now represent the south Delta, has supported legislation to divert more water out of it. However, Denham's staff has said he supports conveying that water through the Delta.